Chance Encounter
by Anna Lane
Summary: Iron Man crashes into the X-Mansion yard. Rogue's just woken up from a coma and thinks he has some explaining to do. If only a normal explanation would satisfy her. Crossover one-shot. Independent story line.


_**A/N: My first fanfic involving Rogue...probably didn't do my girl justice, but I did have fun! Tell me what you think of these two. It's the Rogue of the comic-verse, with Ms. Marvel's powers, and the Iron Man of the movies.**_

"What…are you doin'…on mah lawn, sugah?" Rogue held her hands on her hips as she looked at the giant red glob of metal currently crumpled in a heap at her feet. It seemed to groan. Rogue cocked her head.

All of a sudden, it seemed to spring up, standing, as if someone controlled it like a puppet with strings. "Sorry, miss." The red robot looked around at the burning and various debris he'd caused. It looked more like a mansion than someone's home. He wondered who she was to live in such a nice place. Not as nice as his, but still. "I'll send you a check."

Iron Man's feet flared as he prepared to take off. Before he got ten feet from the ground, something grabbed hold of his ankle and slammed him into the ground with a strength to rival Hulk's.

"Now, ah asked yah a question, tinman. You aren't plannin' on bein' rude, are ya?" Iron Man lifted his face from the dirt to look around. All he saw was the woman from before. He found it almost impossible to believe that someone so small—particularly a woman—could knock him flat on his face.

He slowly got to his feet and faced her. She still didn't seem all that threatening. No bulging muscles, no weapons, no suit of armor. "I'm here," he bit out, "because I was racing with my friends—" Tony's face screwed up as he contemplated if they were, in fact, friends, "and Thor tried to cheat by hitting me here with his ridiculous hammer."

Rogue's eyebrows raised.

"But the race was already over." He assured her. "The force of the blow kinda just—" he made a swooshing motion with his hand. "Gods." He scoffed.

"Did yah win?" She asked with disinterest.

He scowled. "No, actually. Natasha won. She cheated, too!" He assured her.

He started to move away from her, but his head snapped back as her small fist flew out to punch him. He hadn't been so unprepared this time so he didn't fall.

Without thinking, he raised his arm and blasted her into some trees. The trunks shattered when she made contact. Iron Man turned to leave when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her fly out from the woods and felt her ram into him. She body-slammed him into the basketball court.

He didn't know how she flew. No rocket propellers and no wings. She'd be an interesting study. That is, if she could get over causing him bodily harm. He felt a surge of irritation, as his paint was likely even more scratched now. He grabbed one of her shoulders and used his strength to slam her down beside him. She groaned and he stood over her. "You're not from Asgard, are you? Was it the 'god' comment? I'd hate to have to tell Thor I maimed his second cousin." She couldn't see him roll his eyes with her face full of sidewalk, but she could sense the sarcasm.

"Who are you?" She panted, still lying in her dent in the concrete.

"Iron Man," He said, proud and strong. She looked confused. "Tony Stark!" He held out his arms as if to say, 'Here I am, you may commence with your admiration.' She just looked at him. "Nothing?" He was genuinely insulted.

Rogue tackled him from the knees and rammed him through a few trees of his own. "Sorry, darlin', I've been in a coma the last few years. You'll have to forgive my pop culture faux pas!" She got in three suit-denting punches while he was still trying to recover from the blow of the trees.

He held out his iron-clad fist and stopped her next punch in its tracks. He threw her forward. She was thrown upward in the sky, but stopped suddenly. She was hovering above him. How did she _do_ that? He asked himself in amazed irritation. "Let me give you a quick lesson. I'm the good guy."

"Is that why you crashed in mah front yard?" She demanded.

"Uhh, duh. _Crashed _being the opportune word there. It wasn't my fault. If I'd wanted to attack you, you'd be down by now." He sounded so sure of himself.

Rogue narrowed her eyes. "The X-Men have many enemies…maybe you're one of 'em, and you just pussied out when you got here." She crossed her arms.

Ah, so she was a mutant. That explained a lot. Wait, had she just called him a pussy? Iron Man fought the urge to charge her. Instead, he powered up his boots and flew to meet her at eye level.

* * *

"Sounds to me like you're a sore loser." She flew closer and Stark eyed her wearily.

"I'm not a loser at all. They cheated, so I win by default." His voice was haughty.

"I'm gonna take you to the professor. Visitors don't just drop out of the sky." She advanced on him.

"Sorry, babe, mutants aren't my thing. Besides, if I don't get back, they might actually think Thor had me down for longer than he did." He turned and was gone at Mach speed, his helmet slipping closed.

Rogue was hot on his trail. She clutched onto his shoulders and grinned at him. She easily bent his mask open and out of shape so it wouldn't close. He looked interested, if a little annoyed. She was fast, he'd give her that. He trusted Jarvis to navigate while he dealt with his interloper.

He threw his fist into her stomach and she didn't even blink. She was just hanging on for the ride now, not even bothering to fly as his rockets easily propelled them both. Tony Stark wasn't sure how to dislodge her without doing his suit serious damage.

He was still pondering his dilemma when he noticed her lips touch his. His eyes opened in surprise and his lips parted as they tried to capture hers. After so many years it was natural. His arms no longer tried to hold her at bay, but wrapped around her instead.

Tony Stark never held anyone like this. He couldn't feel through the metal, so he had no idea how tight was too tight. He might squeeze a human to death if he tried. But this one seemed to be doing just fine. More than fine, in fact. She moaned as she all but attacked his mouth. He'd never had someone take quite so much control in a kiss before. It felt good.

Finally, she pulled back, panting. He was upset at first, after all, who needs air? When he noticed she was staring at him expectantly, he stared back. "That usually works," she said, looking at him with a thoughtful frown.

"I seem to get that a lot." But the vague statement did nothing to straighten either of their thoughts. "I don't want to hurt you," he said gently, one hand moving to her hair. He sighed when he remembered he wouldn't be able to feel it.

She gave him a small smile. "I know."

And with that, she let go.

He saw her plummet hundreds of feet. He tried to search for her, but couldn't find her anywhere in the sky. With reluctance, he turned back home to his friends—or were they rivals?—knowing they were going to give him hell for losing a race he hadn't lost.

* * *

Rogue's thoughts were zooming, zipping around her head faster than she could really follow. The guy must've been a genius—_is_ a genius, she realized, still reeling from the experience of his memories.

She'd learned he was an Avenger, that he was telling the truth, that he hadn't meant her or the X-Men any harm. It really had been a coincidence.

But the _most_ exciting thing was the fact that Rogue hadn't felt that familiar pull of a person's power—their life force—being thrust upon her body. With his intelligence and insider information, she was able to deduce that since his life was generated unlike other humans—with what was essentially a battery—she couldn't absorb him. Not his life anyway. His memories were all hers and she reviewed them with interest.

For a girl who'd spent years in a coma because she couldn't handle the collective powers of the people she'd absorbed, it was a big deal. She was already plotting on how best to run into the stranger—Tony Stark—again. Along with his mind's help, of course. This was going to be fun.


End file.
